"It was quite a rough match with unfair behaviour (by the Roma players)," said Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas of the match in Rome where referee Mike Riley handed out 11 yellow cards - eight of them to Roma.

"There was some verbal abuse too. Several Italian players came to apologise after the game for insults I would brand as similar to the ones against Zinedine Zidane during the World Cup final," he said.

"We needed a great performance tonight to keep our hopes alive," he added.

The first of the Roma players to be booked was French international defender Philippe Mexes, after three minutes for a tackle on Lyon's playmaker Juninho.

"Mexes didn't go for the ball, he only tried to get me out of the game," said Juninho.

"I got scared in the first few minutes of the match," said Lyon coach Gerard Houllier. "I was wondering about a 'contract' they (AS Roma) could have put on Juninho's head. After the match, he was really upset."

The Lyon captain expressed his disappointment about the referee's decisions.

"French clubs are not respected like they should be in the Champions League," Juninho said. "We saw it with Lille on Tuesday or when we played PSV Eindhoven two years ago."

"We realised tonight that it still goes on. We don't have the same weight as Spanish, Italian or English clubs," the Brazilian added.

Houllier, however, was happy with the outcome and said Wednesday's game was the best by his team since the beginning of the year.